Programs

New York Live Arts is committed to furthering the creation of new work by artists at all stages of their careers. Through signature programs such as the Randjelović/Stryker Resident Commissioned Artist, Live Feed residencies and more, Live Arts provides artists with vital resources for research, development, and the creation of new dance and performance.

Programs

The Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company was born out of an 11-year collaboration between Bill T. Jones and Arnie Zane (1948–1988). During this time, they redefined the duet form and foreshadowed issues of identity, form and social commentary that would change the face of American dance. The Company has performed worldwide in over 200 cities in 40 countries on every major continent and is recognized as one of the most innovative and powerful forces in the dance-theater world.

Live Ideas, New York Live Arts’ annual humanities festival of arts and ideas, will interrogate a future with AI, artificial intelligence, that promises to revolutionize human existence. AI: Are You Brave Enough for The Brave New World?unfolds across five days of discourse, performances, an exhibition, classes for adults and kids, and a HACK-ART-THON, bringing artificial intelligence to the general public from the perspective of its societal, cultural and artistic implications.

Headlining the mainstage of this year’s festival will be the New York City premiere of discrete figures, the collaboration between Japanese companies Rhizomatiks Research and ELEVENPLAY, and American media artist Kyle McDonald.

The 2019 Live Ideas Festival is generously supported by Google, with additional support from the Ace Hotel Humanities New York, Samuel M. Levy Family Foundation, and numerous departments at Carnegie Mellon University.

Live Ideas is an annual humanities festival of arts and ideas, exploring the ideas, controversies and thinking informing a different bodily-oriented theme each time out. Past festivals have included The Worlds of Oliver Sacks, James Baldwin, This Time!, SKY-Force and Wisdom in America Today, curated by Laurie Anderson, MENA/Future-Cultural Transformations in the Middle East North Africa Region, Mx’d Messages curated by Mx. Justin Vivian Bond, and RADICAL VISION co-curated with Brian Tate | The Tate Group and the Hannah Arendt Center.

The Randjelović/Stryker Resident Commissioned Artist program was created in 2011 by New York Live Arts to address what we perceive to be an overall lack of support for mid-career artists. The program is by-invitation only and offers a salary, health benefits, two years of residency time and a commission of a new work to premiere at New York Live Arts. Select works will then be chosen for a fully produced national and/or international tour managed by New York Live Arts.

Raja Feather Kellyis the 2019 – 2020 Randjelović/Stryker Resident Commissioned Artist (RCA). This award continues a long relationship with New York Live Arts and Dance Theater Workshop, beginning with Fresh Tracks in 1990, and several presentations and commissions since. Raja will be working on a commission to premiere in Fall of 2020.

Since the creation of the program in 2011, Randjelović/Stryker Resident Commissioned Artists have been Yasuko Yokoshi, Kyle Abraham, Okwui Okpokwasili, and RoseAnne Spradlin, whose critically acclaimed premiere of Y opened our 2018 – 19 season. Abraham and Okpokwasili went on to become MacArthur Fellows in 2013 and 2018, respectively.

The Live Feed creative residency program is a laboratory for the development of new commissioned work directed toward our theater. Informal public showings offer a sneak peek into each resident artist’s process and ideas before they hit our stage. Each showing takes place within the intimate working space of the Live Arts studio and is followed by a discussion with the artist moderated by special guests and Live Arts staff.

The 2018-19 Fresh Tracks Application is officially closed. Please check back in Summer 2019 for the 2019 – 2020 Application.

Created in 1965 by Dance Theater Workshop, Fresh Tracks continues as a signature program in New York Live Arts. Designed as a springboard for intensive choreographic, administrative and creative development, Fresh Tracks is a pioneer opportunity in the field, positioning early career artists at a unique vantage point within Live Arts’ annual programming.

The Fresh Tracks Program provides five artists with a 50-hour studio residency, a professionally-produced shared evening bill in the New York Live Arts theater, an artist fee, professional development workshops led by established professionals from the field and extensive support from Live Arts’ Marketing, Production and Programming staff. The artists will be mentored by the program’s Artistic Advisor Juliana May (Fresh Tracks alumnus 2005).

Unfolding over the course of Live Arts’ regular presenting season, the Fresh Tracks Program provides five artists with a 50-hour studio residency, a professionally-produced shared evening bill in the New York Live Arts theater, an artistic fee, one-on-one dialogue sessions with the program’s Artistic Adviser, professional development workshops led by established professionals from the field and extensive support from Live Arts’ Marketing, Production and Programming staff.

New York Live Arts’ dynamic platform of new and recent works by resident commissioned artists and curated guests. Presented during the annual Association of Performing Arts Professionals conference, Live Artery 2019 will feature excerpts of recently premiered works and work-in-progress presentations.

This fall the Ford Foundation Live Gallery features excerpts from Derrick Adams’ “The Journey Continues,” a series continuing his exploration into the archive of influential African-American fashion designer Patrick Kelly (1954-1990), housed at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture.

The Ford Foundation Live Gallery, located in the lobby of New York Live Arts, features site-specific works throughout the year. Past artists have included Donald Baechler, Kiki Smith, Robert Longo, Bjorn Amelan, For Freedoms/Hank Willis Thomas, Zoe Buckman and Natalie Frank, Nat Ward, Jonathan Allen, Nick Cave and Bob Faust.